


Co-Captains

by OsoloNewsDay (TheOtherPerson)



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Best Friends, F/M, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-15 22:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8074828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOtherPerson/pseuds/OsoloNewsDay
Summary: They were better than best friends. They were co-captains. Both women are able to take comfort in each other, talking about what they miss about their significant others.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Fast beta job by screamqueen18

“It hurts,” Carli whimpered into the pillow.

The midfielder never allowed herself to be vulnerable in front of the world. Never in front of anyone on the team until her co-captain.

Becky’s strong hands pressed into her friend’s back, each knot she touched, pulling a tortured moan from her bedmate.

“Why does it have to hurt so much?”

It wasn’t the first time that Carli had asked her co-captain that question. Everything was much more sore now, everything hurting much more, and bruises far more evident against tanned skin than they had been a couple years ago. The midfielder was feeling her age. Becky still had two or three years before she became like her friend.

Now every time Carli was knocked down, she wasn’t sure she was going to get up. Everything just hurt that badly.

“Promise me you're never going to get old like me,” Carli mumbled, her words half swallowed by the soft fabric of her pillow.

Only Becky knew that her co-captain, the Great Carli Lloyd, was a drooler. No one else knew that she liked her left calf muscle rubbed more than her right, that she brushed her teeth twice sometimes when she couldn’t remember if she had in the first place. Only a handful of women and Brian could say they have heard the midfielder snore or seen her cry.

Becky felt privileged to be one of those people.

When they were named co-captains they started spending more time together, but it wasn’t until the Olympic loss that the real bonding started. They had to lean on each other so they could at least appear strong for the others. They were captains, and they needed to bear the burden so the others didn’t have to.

The pair had really taken a beaten during the ‘not so’ friendly match against the Netherlands. Carli would definitely have some bruises to show for her effort, though not as large or as big as the ones on Tobin’s body. The girl had taken off her jersey to gasps, her body was speckled with large and small bruises alike thanks to the rough Netherland players.

Christen had almost marched into the opposing locker room to have a word with them, but the captains had been able to stop her mid-stride. The last thing they needed was to have sweet, little Christen Press punch an opposing player.  Though, if Becky was being honest with herself, she had wanted to do exactly the same thing every time Carli had struggled to get up.

“We’re out of biofreeze,” Becky said, having reached over for the spray, only to realize that they had used up the can. “I can go get more if you want.”

Carli grunted into her pillow, before rolling over forcing the defender, who had been straddling her hips, to fall in the bed beside her. “No, don’t go. Just sleep.”

The midfielder’s arms wormed their way around her friend. It was a secret that they didn’t acknowledge.

Both women missed sleeping with their significant others. During friendlies, they were allowed to make the sleeping arrangements, always putting themselves together, claiming captain business. Jill didn’t give them the same privilege during camps, but that was alright. As long as they were able to cuddle in strange hotel rooms in even stranger cities, drawing some comfort from something familiar, then it was enough.

“Carli,” Becky whispered, her teammate having already turned off the lights for the night. “Tell me something you miss about Brian.”

This is what the defender did. This was her comfort. She needed to hear that she wasn’t the only one whose heart throbbed with the many miles that separated her from her loved ones. This was her secret need that she hadn’t known she needed filled until Carli became her person. The one she could go to for anything. She never thought the midfielder would be that for her and certainly never that she could be that for Carli, but sometimes opposites just clicked.

“I miss the way he smells,” Carli said softly, her hand moving until her fingers were interlaced with Becky’s. “I miss that every time I try to fall asleep. He used to send something of his with me on trips, but it loses it smell after a day or two, so it didn’t really help.”

“Is that why you have a pair of men’s socks in your suitcase?” Becky teased. She had noticed a pair of men’s socks the other day hanging out of the older woman’s luggage but was saving the information for a night like this, when they needed each other.

“No, those are because mine never keep my feet warm enough.”

“Ahhhh...hence popsicle toes.”

Brian’s nickname for his fiancée, ‘popsicle toes’, finally made sense. How their fans would laugh at that one. It would probably be more popular than Carlos or Nardley. Even the defender couldn’t help from laughing.

Carli just snuggled deeper in the covers, pretending to be annoyed at her friend’s laughter. She didn’t mind, but she had an image to maintain. She always pretended to be the wet blanket of the group. Someone had to be that person, even though in her youth she could have been called the life of the party, which Sam Mewis and Steph McCaffrey seemed to be convinced still existed. Becky knew otherwise though. Carli didn’t mind being the butt of the joke, not here anyway.

When the defender finally calmed her laughter, she hugged her teammate from behind. “Thank you for sharing that.”

They sat there in silence for a while. Becky always took longer to say what she was missing most about Zola. She was a thinker; she looked into the deeper parts of herself. She could only do this with Carli, Zola, and her mom. These were her people; they were the ones she could just be Becky around.

“I miss his smile,” she finally whispered. “I miss it more now. I find myself looking for it in other people, but it isn’t the same. It doesn’t make me feel...make me feel like I’m the only person in the world. Like if it was just the two of us on this lonely world, it would be alright.”

Carli listened not saying anything, but squeezed the hand in hers. The two lay there in silence when Becky was finished, each taking comfort from one another.  

They couldn’t take comfort like this for their other teammates or friends.

No, they were better than best friends. They were co-captains.


End file.
